By Bassey Udo
The new tax laws introduced in the country on January 1, 2026 are not meant to impoverish Nigerians, the Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), Dr. Zacch Adedeji, has said.
Adedeji who stated this while appearing as a guest on AriseTv interview programme on Sunday said the new tax laws would benefit the poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
The Chairman was reacting to a series of criticisms by several high-profile Nigerians, bloggers and influencers against the new tax laws, which they claimed were part of government’s attempt to further impoverish Nigerians already devastated by the twin policy of fuel subsidy removal and floating of the Naira.
Adedeji said the idea of the new tax laws was not to overburden compliant taxpayers, rather to bring significant relief to poor Nigerians.
“As you know, it is very difficult for people to part with their income, which unfortunately, is part of the tax bill. But in one summary, the whole essence of reform is to tax right, not taxing more. We just want to tax rights, fairly, transparently, and then consolidate the whole system in order to simplify and unify the process of revenue administration,” he said.
Making clarification on some of the alleged misinformation about the N50 deductions from customers’ bank accounts, the NRS helmsman explained that contrary to reports making the rounds, it was for stamp duty being deducted from the sender of any money.
He assured Nigerians that their bank accounts were safe, saying that the deduction of N50 was already in operation since the President Tinubu assented to the Bills in June.
He said it was totally correct to say that the new tax law commenced on January 1, as declared by the President, pointing out that the President has no hand in determining when the law would start.
After the National Assembly passed the law on the 26th of June, 2025, two of those laws became operational.
Addressing the controversies and misinformation about the laws, the NRS boss said those promoting all these rumors and misinformation were those who have been avoiding taxes.
Under the new law, the NRS Chairman said there was no way out for tax evasion based on the digitalization the service is bringing on board in its operations, like e-invoicing.
“So, if you transfer money to your brother, this is just your normal transfer. Nobody, no tax authority, whether state or federal, will go and pry into your bank account to say, okay, who transferred what or who did what,” he explained.
On the controversy surrounding the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Nigeria and France, Adedeji explained that it was operational.
“It’s an operational activity, not only with France, but also with the UK, South Africa, which is normal. It is part of the old law, and even the new law needed to facilitate the interaction between us and the global body for tax administration, because the world now is a global village,” he further explained.
He commended President Tinubu for having the courage to assent to the Bills in spite of the upcoming campaigns and the 2027 election that is on the horizon.
“The President should be commended for the boldness. It shows how courageous he is,” he added.
